2 CA MMJ Bills Introduced

[vta]

Posted by Mickey Martin

For the record I have yet to examine these Bills and will reserve judgement until I am more clear on the specifics. CA NORML Director Dale Geiringer is a trusted resource on these matters and I think his thoughts below are extremely relevant. The process on making medical cannabis more medically regulated has begun. Hold on for a wild ride and let us hope that backlash from perceived abuses does not bring the industry to a screeching halt.

MEDICAL CANNABIS REGULATION BILLS INTRODUCED TO CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE

SACRAMENTO – Sen. Lou Correa (D-Anaheim) has introduced a comprehensive Medical Cannabis Licensing Act to provide a “complete, functional, licensing scheme” aimed at fulfilling Prop. 215′s mandate for a “safe and affordable” distribution system. SB 847 (Correa) Medical Cannabis Licensing Act: would require producers, distributors and sellers to be licensed by State Dept of Public Health, with licenses renewed each 12 months. Also establishes an indicia program under the Board of Equlaization, to require traceable, secure indicia of licensure to be placed on medical marijuana, require a product testing program and a facilities inspection program, and authorize assessment of related fees.

http://info.sen.ca.gov/pub/11-12/bill/sen/sb_0801-0850/sb_847_bill_20110218_introduced.html

On the whole, the bill is surprisingly well drafted (especially given that Sen. Correa has the worst record of any Democrat in the legislature on MMJ). It rightly puts enforcement in the hands of the Dept of Health and Board of Pharmacy; explicitly exempts licensees from charges for sales, distribution, etc under HSC 11357 - 61; provides for hygiene, safety and security inspections; and leaves it to the relevant public agencies to work out regulations. It prescribes fees, but not taxes, to fund the system.

Meanwhile , Sen. Calderon has re-introduced a more lengthy and complicated “Cannabis and Cannabis Product Certificate: Taxation” bill like the one he sponsored last year. Like that bill, it is aimed at collecting sales taxes. SB 626: This bill would create the Cannabis Certification and Regulation Act of 2011 and provide for the certification by the State Board of Equalization of growers, wholesalers, retailers, and transporters of cannabis or cannabis products that are engaged in business in California. The bill would require these certificated growers, wholesalers, retailers, and transporters to keep records of every sale, transfer, or delivery of cannabis or cannabis products, as specified. The bill would authorize any peace officer and specified employees of the board to conduct inspections, as provided. It would prohibit growers, wholesalers, retailers, and transporters from selling or purchasing cannabis or cannabis products without a certificate.

http://info.sen.ca.gov/pub/11-12/bill/sen/sb_0601-0650/sb_626_bill_20110218_introduced.html

The Calderon bill has many shortcomings: it tries to regulate medical marijuana through the state Board of Equalization rather than
the Dept of Health; requires growers and transporters as well as sellers to register with the BOE; tries to make wholesalers pre-pay the sales tax before the product is sold; prevents anyone with a felony record from participating; and fails to protect legal providers from prosecution under HSC 11358, 11359, 11360 etc.

- D. Gieringer, Cal NORML

 

[Anti]

Screw legalization! Get a med card!

Right?



(right?)

 

[kmk420kali]

http://info.sen.ca.gov/pub/11-12/bill/sen/sb_0801-0850/sb_847_bill_20110218_introduced.html

Glanced through this one...a classic example of Regulation to the point of being unable to comply...no matter who you are--

 

[HighDesertJoe]

Round and Round and Round it'll go and where and when it STOPS nobody knows

 

[Tripsick]

would have been nice for legalization and a choice for a med card.

 

[Hash Zeppelin]

they both sound stupid so far.

 

[trichrider]

who does this senator purport to represent?

this is like him saying to each of us (and our heirs), BEND OVER and SPREAD 'EM! this is what it's going to cost you to consume, use, give, grow, transport, sell, or think about. forcing some malevolent malfunction upon the masses in the guise of protection.

thank you, but no thank you. condolences cali if this becomes law.

 

[rick shaw]

Awesome,I'll be the first in line to register my name and address,allow any peace officer to inspect,document every transaction for tax purposes and file all appropriate forms.
Yup,I can't wait.lol

 

[thingshappening]

California has long been a place for social leaders. You all certainly were on cannabis. Then, the selfishness came to the forefront, with career criminals voting in droves to keep pot "medical" to protect their six and seven figure incomes.

And with that, the legislature saw their opening for more tyranny.

You get what you voted for. I'm looking at you, Emerald Triangle. I read those exit polls. Your "brothers" with less dollars for private defense will be getting time all around ya... but let's be honest, ya never really gave two fucks anyway, did ya'?

Nice.

 

[ddrew]

Screw legalization! Get a med card!

Right?



(right?)

Haha

Screw 19! We don't need it! We have 215!
We're waiting for a better bill in 2012!

Yep, things look to be getting better and better, lmao

 

[medicalgreen]

I'm curious as to how this will affect anything the IRS is doing against clubs like Harborside?

If you can pay all the taxes properly, and get your license, and have your facilities inspected, and pay the fees......what's to stop the IRS from moving against you in the way they did to Harborside?

This would effectively keep all cannabusiness in California from becoming completely legit and good reason for people to remain underground, in the long run.

How can the politicians keep the IRS off us, if we follow all of their rules to the letter of the law? They can instantly claim we can not deduct all our costs because we are in actually "drug trafficking organizations".

 

[medicalgreen]

Been reading the legislation proposed......
been studying law on my own for 15 + years.....

never seen anything like this, ....but I like it!

(b) "No person is subject to the requirements of this division if
that person is exempt from regulation under the United States
Constitution, the laws of the United States, or the California
Constitution."

Now i'm wondering, are they leaving an "out" for the sovereign citizens, here?

Any legal eagles here care to interpret this?

I don't like this part very much,
(c) The applicant and each prospective employee shall submit to a
criminal background check conducted by the Department of Justice.

Now why on earth would they bring in the federal government for background checks?
That is ultimately LAME!
This should be avoided at all costs.

Just get's crazier and crazier.....
(1) Secure production, distribution, and sale of uncontaminated
and affordable medical marijuana product.

Contamination and Affordability are both relative and uncontrollable and vague terms. Most produce is contaminated, and becoming less and less affordable. Who interprets this?

More craziness.....
(4) Field auditing and inspections.
(5) Elimination and apprehension of counterfeit marijuana product
and indicia.

The person who authored this has no idea of the nature of cannabis marketing, obviously.....
(c) The board shall design, develop, and produce, or may procure,
indicia meeting the requirements of this chapter of designs and
denominations, as determined by the board, that are suitable to be
affixed to product in bulk during production, and affixed to
standardized retail medical marijuana packages for distribution and
sale.
(d) The board, in consultation with the department, shall adopt
regulations to determine the standardized design and size of the
package, and location of the indicia.

And here, it appears that they are attempting to create a state agency or special corporation, or set of tightly regulated corporations or business that will meet the following requirements. JUST FOR TRACKING PURPOSES, but ultimately it makes it impossible to deal with, in it's totality.

22992.55. (a) The indicia shall have tracking and tracing
capabilities utilizing high-security encrypted coding, similar to
that in use on tobacco commercialized in California, to reasonably
ensure and monitor that all medical marijuana produced, distributed,
and sold in California is in compliance with applicable law.
(b) The indicia shall be secure, counterfeit resistant, and
encrypted with certain information to identify, at a minimum, all of
the following:
(1) The name and address of the party affixing the indicia to the
final units of sale.
(2) The date the indicia are affixed to the final units of sale.
(3) The denominated value of the indicia.
(c) The indicia shall be readable and traceable from the point of
production to the point of sale and shall be readable by a scanner or
similar device that may be utilized by the department, the board, or
licensed medical marijuana product producers, distributors, sellers,
and others, as determined by regulations adopted by the board.
(d) The indicia shall be produced in a secure facility certified
in accordance with accepted industry security assistance standards,
shall incorporate overt, semicovert, and covert data, and shall
capture encrypted data in real time. The encrypted data collected
shall be provided by producers, distributors, and sellers, and shall
be retained by the state in a secure data collection, management, and
decision support system.
(e) Only parties approved by the regulations of the board shall
affix and cancel the indicia. The regulations shall not authorize any
person to sell indicia except duly constituted agents and assistants
of the board or the department.
(f) Licensees shall maintain records in regard to medical
marijuana products and the associated indicia, as prescribed by the
board, in consultation with the department, and those records shall
be available to the department and the board for inspection and
audit.

Now get ready for this.....NO MOM AND POPS!!!!
If you grow a little extra, want to get licensed, then you'll have inspectors rummaging through all your personals in your home for this part....You will need a facility or you will not participate!

22992.65. The department shall, in consultation with the
California State Board of Pharmacy, establish a facilities inspection
program to inspect licensee cultivation, packaging, distribution,
and retail facilities to ensure hygienic conditions and product
safety.

TURNS EVERY SMALL TIME PROVIDER INTO A HIGH TECH SECURITY INVESTMENT DISPENSARY.....

CHAPTER 5. MEDICAL CANNABIS FACILITIES SECURITY


22992.75. (a) The department, in consultation with the Attorney
General, shall establish a medical cannabis facilities security
program.
(b) The program shall have as a primary goal to ensure that
licensee facilities meet all of the following requirements:
(1) They do not become magnets for increased violence or theft
because of the cannabis located therein.
(2) They adopt and follow stringent internal safeguards to ensure
security of the medical marijuana product and the facilities.
(3) They are not located in inappropriate community settings where
traffic safety, incompatible land use, proximity to schools, and
other safety issues are raised.
22992.80. (a) The department shall establish facility security
standards applicable to all licensed facilities, and shall conduct a
security inspection of all licensed facilities to ensure compliance.
The facilities security inspections may be combined with the product
safety inspections conducted under Chapter 4 (commencing with Section
22992.60).
(b) If a licensed facility experiences extraordinary security
breaches, in number or severity, the department may order the
licensee to enhance the security for that facility, including, but
not limited to, upgrading electronic or other security systems or
hiring additional security personnel.

So, in my opinion on this one, it's highly prohibitive and filled with too many hoops to jump through. Unless you envision investing $100,000 just to distribute cookies or extra meds.

 

[milehimedi]

this sounds similar to what we call HB1284 out here on CO. It is the state's way of getting their share, and at the same time likely putting $$$ into some friends pockets. Politicians, they are the most greedy, powerful gang out there

 

[j242]

Fellow patients, welcome BACK to the underground!

lol.

 

[vta]

I don't like this part very much,
(c) The applicant and each prospective employee shall submit to a
criminal background check conducted by the Department of Justice.

Now why on earth would they bring in the federal government for background checks?
That is ultimately LAME!
This should be avoided at all costs.

It's the California Department of Justice....Harris's office...but still

 

[CANNATOPIA]

Thank you for the update VTA, got my fingers crossed.

 

[medicalgreen]

The essence of SB 847 is that it will turn every small time cultivator who wants to provide their medicine to dispensaries or to patients, into a full fledged dispensary. Still pending zoning restrictions, and land use requirements, and all other fees and licenses and so forth, this bill is nothing more than enhanced Dispensary guidelines. It really won't change much because cities that didn't allow them before are not going to now, just because of this.

This is really the end of the dispensaries that have low income, and have to pay for extended services and inspections and so forth. And it will make it even harder to become a dispensary because it will cost everyone even more now.

That's my 2 1/2 cents.

 

[Herborizer]

Both sound crappy so far.

 

[Corpsey]

I don't like this part very much,
(c) The applicant and each prospective employee shall submit to a
criminal background check conducted by the Department of Justice.

Now why on earth would they bring in the federal government for background checks?

i think because of this...

22993.6. (a) The board shall issue a certificate to a grower upon
receipt of a completed application, payment of the fee prescribed in
Section 22993.4, a completed background check, and a determination
by the board that all other applicable requirements of this division
have been met. The board shall not issue a certificate if any of the
following applies:

(3) The grower or, if the grower is not an individual, any person
controlling the grower has been convicted of a felony.



also saw this...
22998.28. (a) Every person that engages in the sale or
transportation for sale of cannabis or cannabis products in this
state shall obtain and maintain a cannabis and cannabis products
seller's or transporter's certificate pursuant to this division.
(b) It shall be rebuttably presumed that a person that is in
possession of more than 28.5 grams (one ounce) of cannabis, or in
possession of products containing more than 28.5 grams (one ounce) of
cannabis, or in possession of both cannabis and products containing
cannabis which together total more than 28.5 grams (one ounce) of
cannabis, except a person holding a valid identification card, or the
designated primary caregiver of that qualified patient or person
pursuant to Sections 11362.7, 11362.765, and 11362.77 of the Health
and Safety Code, is engaged in the sale or transportation for sale of
cannabis or cannabis products.
(c) The board or other law enforcement agency may, in its
discretion, also consider, with respect to the circumstances in which
the cannabis or cannabis products are discovered, the equipment with
which it is found, the place it is found, and the manner of
packaging in determining if the person in possession of the cannabis
or cannabis products is engaged in the sale or transportation for
sale of cannabis or cannabis products.
(d) Notwithstanding subdivision (b), a person who is discovered at
his or her private residence to be in possession of an amount of
cannabis in excess of 28.5 grams (one ounce) shall not be presumed to
be engaging in the sale or transportation for sale of cannabis or
cannabis products.


so you only could have more then one ounce at your private residence and thats it. no where else.

 

[HUGE]

Is there a provision for growing your own in any of these bills?